TSA Keeps The Spare Change You Leave Behind At Airport Security

Between the strip searches and pat-downs, it's easy to lose track of your stuff when going through airport security--especially your spare change. In fact, hurried travelers left behind a total of $409,085.56 at American airports in 2010, according to Transportation Security Administration data cited by USA Today.

Where does all this money go? In most cases, the TSA keeps it and uses it to buy everything from lightbulbs to X-ray machines, according to NBC San Diego.

The most spare change was left behind at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York in 2010, where travelers lost $46,918.06, according to TSA data cited by the Dallas Morning-News.

Travelers at Los Angeles International Airport, Hartsfield Atlanta Airport, San Francisco International Airport, and Miami International Airport all left behind more than $15,000 in spare change in 2010, according to NBC San Diego.

TSA officials do try to give the change back to travelers when they can. A TSA official returned an envelope containing $9,500 to Carlos Palma at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport last week after Palma had dropped the envelope at airport security, according to several news outlets.